Stepping on Broken Glass
by Don'tThinkAllDay
Summary: "what do you mean she's gone!" he demanded, shaking the man in front of him. He shook his head. "Gone. she's gone. the King Jack took her away." Alice gets taken from New York back to Wonderland by Jack. What will Hatter do to save his girlfriend
1. Chapter 1

"Keys, keys, where are my keys?" Hatter muttered, patting his pockets as he searched for his key ring, which he always seemed to be losing. After about five minutes he finally found them in his back jeans pocket, he sighed and started murmuring to himself as he sorted through the four keys on the ring to find the one he was looking for. "Ah ha!" he said finally lifting the ring with a single silver key between his forefinger and thumb over his head, as if to show someone, but he was alone. He smiled to himself as he unlocked the door in front of him. He reached forward and flicked a light switch, smiling at the empty room in front of him.

It was his café, named _The Tea Shop_, but he didn't just serve specifically tea. Basically, it was Starbucks, but cheaper, and cooler because well, it's Hatter, obviously his shop is going to be cooler than Starbucks. He had opened the café in a closed down used bookshop, and filled all the shelves along the wall with books both from Barnes and Noble as well as other bookstores around the city, and his own collection from back home. Back home in Wonderland. He started to walk back behind the counter to get ready for when the people started coming as he thought about Wonderland.

He had loved it in Wonderland, he really did, but after everything that happened and meeting Alice, okay, so _mostly_ because of meeting Alice, it stopped feeling like his home and more like a gray area that he was just waiting in before he found his home, which is in Alice. Wherever she was, felt like home to him. As he started all the kettles and coffee machines, he started to think about when exactly he felt like wherever Alice was, was where he needed to be.

And then he remembered.

_BANG. BANG. BANG. _

_The shots from the gun in his hand echoed against the walls as he watched the Walrus fall down. His gun skidding across the floor. Everything else sort of became a blur as he watched everyone run as the casino started to rumble with the force of all the emotions Alice had made the oysters feel begin to destroy the building from the inside out. _

_He made a move to leave, but then he realized that there was still someone in the room with him. _Alice._ He turned and saw her kneeling over her father's unmoving body and his heart broke for her. She finally found what she had been looking for and it got taken away from her the second she got it. He ran to her quickly and his heart completely shattered as he heard her sobbing. Hatter kneeled down behind her and wrapped his arms around her. "Alice, Alice we need to go, I'm sorry," he whispered, lifting her up gently. _

_Alice was still sobbing, but she had heard him and they ran for the door. Once they were out of the game room of the casino, Alice fell to the ground again and broke out into a fresh round of sobs. "I-I need to go in there and get him." She said through her tears. Hatter shook his head. _

"_Alice no, no you can't, you'll die!" He said, but she wasn't listening. She had stood up and was starting to run back to the doors. Hatter sighed a little and ran over to her, lifting her up into his arms and running out of the casino just in time. Once they were a safe distance away with the other oysters and Hatter put her down, there was a sudden booming noise, and the whole casino went down. Alice watched, and her face crumpled again and she started to fall to the ground. Hatter caught her and hugged her close to his chest. "Shh, Alice, shh it's okay. I got you," He said stroking her hair as she sobbed. _

"_H-h-h-he's gone…he's really gone, an-an-and he isn't coming back...h-he left, he left me" She whispered, still crying. Hatter hugged her tighter and kissed her hair. _

"_I know Alice, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He whispered continually into her hair. She cried even harder, wrapping her arms tight around Hatter._

"_D-d-don't leave," She whispered. "p-please," Hatter kissed her hair again and held her tighter_

"_I promise you I will never leave." He said, planning on keeping that promise until the day he died. _

And he did. He followed her to her world and moved to New York about two months ago and opened his own tea shop. With _actual_ tea, not that dumb emotions drained from humans crap that the queen had him selling, oh no, he was selling _real _tea from _real _leaves, and coffee from _real _beans and hot chocolate from actual melted chocolate. (Okay he'll admit that he doesn't know what chocolate is made out of…) and he _loved_ it, it felt _right_ to him, also, he kind of felt like a drug dealer when he was selling all the emotions back in Wonderland, he never did like the idea of 'instant gratification'.

He quickly unlocked the two cash registers and made sure everything was accounted for and then he glanced up and smiled. On the edge of his register he had taped a picture of himself and Alice from a few weeks earlier. Her mom, who happens to just _love_ "David", was the one who it.

They were sitting on the couch in Alice's apartment. Well actually _Hatter_ was sitting on the couch while Alice was sitting on him. Her arms were wrapped around Hatter's neck and her face was hidden in his shoulder while Hatter's arms were wrapped around her, his hand on her lower back and he was in the process of kissing her hair. Hatter remembered when that picture was taken. Alice had been getting nightmares ever since she came back through the looking glass, and Hatter was there every time to comfort her.

The night the picture was taken was one of the worst nightmares she had and it took Hatter a good four hours to calm her down. After she had fallen asleep, Carol had come back into the room and showed Hatter the picture. When he questioned her about why she took it, she told him that Alice had never _ever_ let anyone hold her like that before, which made Hatter smile down at the sleeping girl in his arms and kiss her head. He loved her more than anything and there is never a day that he doesn't tell her that. And every time he says it, she gets this cute smile that is pretty much her _Hatter smile_ because she only ever smiles like that around him, and she says it back. Hearing her say those three words, even though it happens on a daily basis, makes his heart skip a beat.

He was quickly snapped out if his thoughts of Alice when a voice spoke up. "You know, I could've been a thief and killed you," He looked up and smiled. Harper Rae Stevenson was at the counter. She was his seventeen year old assistant and only other staff member at _The Tea Shop_. She was a constant customer at the café before Hatter offered her a job. Harper was homeschooled and she asked her parents who agreed to let her work there full time. But they gave her assignments to do and hand in during her off time and bring back when she got off work. Hatter helped her with a lot because in Wonderland schools they did teach typical classes that were in oyster schools. Like math, literature and others like that.

"But you're not and you didn't," Hatter said smiling at her. "Hey Harper." He said as she walked behind the counter and unlocked her cash register.

"Hey there Hatter," She said. There were a few people, actually three, including Alice, who knew his real identity. One of them being Harper. Harper was one of those teenagers that had a bigger imagination than usual. She believed in fairy tales, her favorite, coincidentally being Alice in Wonderland. So Hatter told her the real story, and she believed him and promised to stick to the story he was going with, that he grew up in Yorkshire in the UK and that's why he had such a heavy accent. Before they could continue their conversation, the bell above the door chimed. They both looked up and smiled. Standing in front of them was a woman dressed in a navy skirt and matching blazer, holding the hand of a little girl in a patchwork design skirt and a long sleeved shirt that was the same deep purple color as the jacket Alice wore back in Wonderland. "Hey Stella, and hi squirt." Hatter said looking down at the little girl.

Stephanie was four years old and her mother met Hatter when he moved into the apartment next door to them. Stephanie instantly bonded with Hatter and when he opened the Tea Shop, it sort of became Stephanie's place too; she was the other of the three people that knew Hatter's real identity. Every morning her mom would drop her off and go to work and then her nanny would come pick her up at lunchtime. Hatter had the type of personality that people just _trusted_ and her mother didn't have any reservations about leaving her with him (she also did research on him and didn't find a criminal record so that was a plus). So she kissed her daughters cheek and thanked Hatter like she always does and Stephanie ran over to the counter and sat on one of the high stools like she always does and dropped her Hannah Montana messenger bag onto the counter as Hatter made her mother's usual. Once her mom was gone, Hatter turned and smiled at Stephanie.

"'ello!" She said smiling a grin that showed the two holes where her two front teeth should be. Every time she was at the tea shop, she would try and copy Hatter's accent. He smiled and handed her a small mug of hot chocolate with extra whipped cream on it and leaned on the counter across from her.

"'ello guvnah." He said chuckling and ruffling her hair. "Keep trying squirt, you almost got it." He continued before turning to the cash register to wait on the person at the register.

* * *

><p>At about noon, it started down pouring and continued until eight pm, which is when Hatter and Harper were going through her math assignment, and the bell on the door rang. "H-h-hey," A familiar voice shivered. Hatter looked up and saw Alice, completely soaked in jeans and a t shirt, was standing in the doorway arms crossed and teeth chattering.<p>

"Babe my god you're going to catch pneumonia," Hatter said jumping up and taking off his jacket, wrapping it around his girlfriend's shoulders. Alice smiled gratefully up at him and kissed his cheek.

"Thanks, this is helping," she said, looking over his shoulder at Harper. "Hey Harper," She said. The teenager smiled and waved.

"Hey, uhhh Hatter, do you still need help? Because I gotta head home," She said her bag already on her shoulder. Hatter smiled and shook his head.

"Nah I'm good, probably going to close up early. Thanks though Harper," He said waving as she stepped past them and out into the rain. Once she was gone, he turned to Alice and handed her his key ring.

"Upstairs, go change." He said kissing her forehead. He was talking about his apartment. The café was in the storefront directly under his apartment building, and his apartment had a door that led straight into the storage room of the café, so it was easy access. Alice shook her head.

"No I'm fine," She tried saying, but Hatter cut her off, kissing her quickly.

"Now." He said. "I don't want you getting sick love," He continued, turning her towards the back room and pushing her gently to get to the door. She rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Fine, I'll be right back," she said, turning around and kissing him quickly before taking the key and walking upstairs. Hatter smiled.

"Good. And I'll be here with a cup of tea waiting for you." He said already starting to get the water ready. As he waited he started to close down the shop. Once he finished closing up and making the tea, Alice had come back down stairs in a pair of his sweat pants and a white t shirt under a black unzipped hoodie, the sleeves covering everything but her fingertips. She smiled smally at him as she walked over to where he was standing and wrapped her arms around his middle, burying her face in his chest, inhaling the familiar smell of mint, coffee beans, and Alice's favorite cologne that her mother had bought for Hatter to use.

"I missed you," She whispered into his shirt, cuddling closer into him as he wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin o her head.

"I missed you too love. God, six hours is a long time apart." Hatter said. Alice laughed tiredly, and Hatter scooped her up in his arms and carried her to one of the cushiony arm chairs in the corner of the room, sitting down and seating her on his lap, handing her the mug of tea before he kissed the side of her head. "Drink this so you'll warm up, then we'll go to your place okay?" He asked, rubbing her back a little as she nodded and took a sip of the steaming drink in her hands.

She sighed happily. "God, why are you so perfect?" She asked, drinking some more. "This is perfect thank you baby," She said, finishing the drink rather quickly and resting her cheek on his shoulder. Hatter smiled and held her closer, rubbing her arm gently.

"Oh no sweetheart, I'm far from perfect. But you did a good job of describing yourself." He said smiling down at her, kissing her quickly before she could protest. "So how was your day? Did you kick anyone's ass today?" He asked. Alice giggled and snuggled closer to Hatter's chest and shrugged

"It was okay, but no, I didn't kick anyone's ass. But baby, when are you going to take my class?" She asked, batting her eyelashes. Hatter sighed.

"Gorgeous," Hatter started "You've seen me fight. I don't need classes. But I might just come to see you fight." He said winking. Alice slapped his chest.

"You're such a guy," she said yawning. Hatter smiled and kissed her cheek.

"C'mon," He said standing up. "Time to go home." He said, grabbing an umbrella and taking Alice's hand as they walked down the street in the pouring rain.

They didn't notice the blonde man standing on the other side of the street watching them, or the Stone of Wonderland shining against the glow of the street lights on his ring finger.


	2. Chapter 2

Hatter woke up in the middle of the night in his apartment a few days later and looked around. He was alone in the bed, which was odd enough in itself. Alice wasn't lying curled up next to him, like usual. He sat up a little and reached to turn on the lamp on the table. "Al?" He whispered to the air around him, hoping she had just slipped out of bed to go to the bathroom or something. When he got no answer, he froze. Suddenly he jumped out of bed in just his sweatpants, the waistband sitting low on his waist and ran into the living room, looking around the room slightly panicked. "Alice….Alice? Sweetheart?" He called continually, he was scared. She never left his side at night. _Never. _The last time she did, it was when she basically met up with the Mad March and was taken to the Hearts Casino for the first time.

As he looked around, he felt a breeze coming from the back of the room; he turned and saw his balcony sliding glass doors half way open, the breeze making the white curtains rise and fall. He quickly ran out to the balcony and breathed a sigh of relief.

Dangling from the side of his old high backed white spinning chair (of course he brought it to Wonderland, it was an _awesome _chair), was Alice…well her feet. He moved the chair around so Alice was facing him now, rather than facing out towards the skyline of Manhattan. She looked up when he turned her around and she smiled faintly and waved, only wiggling her four fingers. "Hey," She said, speaking barely above a whisper.

"You gave me a heart attack," Hatter said just as quietly as he kissed the side of her head, lifted her up into his arms and sat down on the chair himself, with her on his lap. She snuggled closer to him and kissed his cheek, already rough with stubbly hair.

"Sorry," She murmured. "Couldn't sleep." Hatter kissed her hair and rubbed her back softly.

"You usually wake me up when that happens beautiful." He said; his voice still full of concern. Whenever she had a nightmare or couldn't sleep she'd wake up hatter who would make her a cup of tea and sing to her until she fell back asleep or she would just cuddle closer to him and listen to him breathe until she fell back asleep. She _**never**_ left the bed when they were sleeping. It was a mutual understanding they had.

"I didn't want to wake you this time I guess," She mumbled sleepily into his chest, she slipped her arms around his middle. There were points in Alice's nightmares where she didn't want Hatter to worry because, well, sometimes she had nightmares about Jack, and she knew he would fly off the handle, going straight to Wonderland to give Jack a piece of his mind for disrupting his girlfriend's sleeping patterns.

She hadn't seen Jack since she went through the looking glass to get home, which was around three months previously and she had a pretty good feeling that things weren't done between them, they kind of ended in a sort of gray area. When she refused his proposal, he just looked at her with some weird look in his eyes. To say that the look in his eyes made her slightly suspicious was an understatement. She had always been able to read him like a book, and his eyes told her that he was scheming something, but before she could read anymore into it, he had walked away.

She was snapped back into the present by Hatter, his accent more pronounced from his tiredness. "But you always wake me up; I'm always willing to stay up with you as long as I know where you are. Why didn't you wake me up this time?"

"Because," she whispered, looking out, not making eye contact because she was scared of his reaction. "Because it was about Jack," Hatter stared at her and held her against his chest, as close as possible.

"Oh Alice," He whispered, stroking her hair. "How long have these been happening?" Alice buried her face in his chest and shrugged.

"A few times, I should have told you earlier I'm sorry." She whispered. Hatter held her even tighter.

"It's not your fault sweetheart, it's not, please don't blame yourself." He said "You can't help it, but do you want to talk about it?" Alice shook her head quickly.

"No, no I don't, I can't…I'm sorry." She whimpered. The dream was too real; she couldn't get the thought of his steely eyed glare out of her mind. She didn't want to think about it anymore, just wanted to think about Hatter's arms around her. Almost like he read her mind, he hugged her closer to him and stood up and carried her back to the bedroom. He laid her gently on the bed and quickly slid into bed next to her, pulling her against his chest.

"It's okay; you can tell me when you're ready okay?" He said running his fingertips up and down her spine. Alice nodded, resting her cheek on his chest, listening to his heartbeat, as her breathing slowed and her eyes started to droop.

"God, why is it so easy for me to trust you?" She whispered, smiling sleepily. Hatter smiled and kissed her hair.

"Maybe we should figure that out tomorrow yeah?" He said smiling and kissing her hair, "because trust me love, you're not going to work tomorrow, you haven't slept all night." Alice didn't have the energy to protest, so all she did was poke his chest with her index finger. Hatter got the message though, and laughed. "No arguing baby, you're not going anywhere tomorrow." He said, she sighed.

"Fine," She whined. "But I'm staying here and going to call you every time I need something." She mumbled, drifting to sleep already.

"Wouldn't have it any other way beautiful," Hatter said, rubbing Alice's back as she finally fell asleep.

* * *

><p>The Tea Shop was insanely busy for a Thursday afternoon. There was probably thirty seconds between each customer and Hatter was running around like, well, a madman. He had to put his phone down after a while, hoping that Alice wouldn't need anything because then he'd feel like an asshole for not answering.<p>

But as it was, Alice _was _trying to call him to ask for him to bring up a cup of tea or something. Finally, after the fourth call went to answering machine (_hey…..hey Alice, how do you work this thing? I have to what? But that's stupid, talking into a black box, but, that's SILLY_…BEEP) she decided to walk down and get one for herself, knowing that he was probably too busy to pick up, so she'd offer her help too. So as she pulled on one of Hatter's v neck t shirts and his sweats and grabbed the key to the apartment, she send a quick text to Hatter, letting him know she was on her way. She walked into the hallway and turned to lock the door behind her. Before she turned to go down the stairs towards the backroom of the tea shop, she bumped into someone.

A tall, blonde, square jawed someone.

"Hello Alice," Jack Heart said. "Did you miss me?"

When the afternoon crowd _finally_ died down, Hatter took a moment to grab his cell phone while Harper got started on her English assignment. He quickly unlocked his phone to open up the text message that Alice had sent him earlier.

_Not answering your phone, so you're probably busy, on my way down for tea. _

_-Ali_

He checked the time of the text 12:30 in the afternoon, he looked at the clock now, 6:45 in the evening. He looked at Harper. "Did Alice come by today? And for some odd reason I missed her…?" Harper looked up from _A Tale of Two Cities_.

"Nope, didn't see her, why?" She asked. Hatter shook his head.

"Nothing, she probably fell back asleep, I'm going to bring her a cup of tea," He said, standing and flicking Harper's ponytail, before starting some hot water. Before he could even pour the hot water into a cup, the bell above the door chimed. Harper looked up to help the customer and started giggling. Hatter looked up at Harper. "What's so funny?" He started to say before he heard a _very_ familiar voice state a _very _familiar nickname for him.

"Hello, Harbinger…" Charlie the knight said, leaning against the counter. Hatter beamed.

"Charlie! What a surprise! How did you get here? I mean _why'd_ you come here? The looking glass…" He said, but was interrupted by Charlie standing up a little straighter, obviously proud of whatever he was about to say next.

"I followed the King, Jack Heart." He said. Hatter's face fell instantly.

"Jack? Jack is _here_? Jack went through the looking glass?" He demanded, his voice getting more and more escalated as the thought sunk in. Charlie nodded slowly, and that send Hatter over the edge. "Alice," He mumbled under his breath before turning and running towards the back room to get to his apartment. When he got into the hallway, he ran and unlocked the door to his apartment, his hat flying off his head, and found it deserted. "ALICE!" He called, looking around, then running back into the hallway, and seeing something shiny on the ground.

The ring that Alice's mother gave her for her last birthday, some sort of family heirloom, lay on the floor, next to a ripped piece of crumpled paper. Hatter bent down and picked up both things from the ground and opened the paper.

_I'm bringing her back where she belongs. Don't bother looking._

_J_

"NO." Hatter yelled, dropping the paper and gripping the ring as tight as he could in his fist. There were quick fire footsteps and Charlie and Harper were quickly in the hallway with him.

"What is it?" Harper asked. Hatter shook his head; actually, his whole body was shaking. He turned to Charlie.

"We're going." He said through gritted teeth. Charlie and Harper both looked confused.

"Going where..?" Charlie asked. Hatter looked at him; the fire in his eyes was red hot as he flipped his discarded hat back onto his head.

"Back to Wonderland."

* * *

><p>Alice woke up to what she un-fondly remembered as the Truth Room of the Heart's Casino…or something that resembled it, because of course, the Heart's Casino was destroyed. She tried standing up, but her wrists were tied to the chair behind her so she couldn't leave, she sighed and looked around, trying to figure out where she was, when the door opened. She looked up, and gasped. Standing there, yet again, was Jack. "J-Jack…?" She whispered; her throat dry. Jack smiled.<p>

"Hello Alice," He said "Sorry to have...used your own trick on you," He said, in reference to pinching a nerve on the back of someone's neck, knocking them out, but not killing them. Alice glared.

"Where am i? I thought this place imploded last time I was here, where's Hatter?" She asked, looking around. Jack chuckled.

"Very inquisitive today are we?" He asked, and then he crouched down in front of the chair Alice was in. "But I'll tell you." Then he stood up again, opening his arms, as if to cue the entrance to some spectacular thing to enter the room. "This is, the Heart's Casino 2.0, revamped so it's an _actual_ casino, not some emotion harvesting lab." He said, "And you, my pretty little friend, are in the Truth Room." Alice looked around.

"But why did you rebuild all the torture chambers..." She started, but then got cut off.

"Who said I re built _all _the torture chambers?" He scoffed.

"Did you?"

"Yes I did." Alice stared at him

"Why? I thought you weren't interested in your mother's plan?" Jack shrugged.

"The Revolution is still trying to bring down my family and our rule." He said. "So unfortunately, these rooms are necessary, but I have nothing to do with it, I graciously gave my _mother_ the job of Director of the Revolution Ending Process." Alice just continued to stare at Jack.

"Okay, but then _why_ am I here? And stop avoiding the question. Where. Is. Hatter?" Jack chuckled darkly, yet again.

"Well you see, you're the main point of one of my plans, and Hatter would've gotten in the way, so I left him in New York."

"So what's the point of me being here?" He smirked and walked back over to Alice, crouching down and holding both of Alice's hands.

"Well, you refused my offer to being my Queen," He started; Alice pulled her hands away and nodded.

"Yes, yes I did," She said, and yet again, there was that look in Jack's eyes.

"Well now I brought you here to tell you that now you have no choice. You're going to be my wife and my queen, whether you like it or not, and if I were you, to make your life easier," He said before leaning in very close to Alice's face and whispering. "I'd learn to enjoy it, I mean, who would want that scraggly crazed hat lover over me?" He finished, before closing the distance between their two faces and kissing Alice softly.

Alice went straight into defense mode; her foot went straight up and kicked Jack straight in between the legs. He doubled over in pain and glared at her; the fire in his eyes looked deadly, and so did hers. "I _love_ Hatter. He's ten time the man that you will _ever_ be and there is no way in hell that I will marry you." Suddenly, Jack's fist was colliding with the side of her face. The force of the punch made the chair topple over and Alice fell to the ground on her side.

"I'll give you some time to rethink that answer," Jack said "It's not like you can leave or anything." He smirked before walking to the door. "Dee, Dum, make sure she doesn't try anything. You know what to do if she does," He said to the twin evil doctors standing guard. They nodded, their bald heads going up and down in complete unison. Once Jack was gone and the two bald men were standing guard on the other side of the door, Alice was alone. And it was then she realized what Jack was saying.

She might never see Hatter again.

And that thought brought tears to her eyes as she thought of that. But then she sniffed and shook her head. "No," She mumbled to herself "no, he'll come get me. It's Hatter, of course he will." She said, smiling faintly at the thought as she buried her face in the shoulder of his sweatshirt she had on.

* * *

><p>Hatter gave instructions for Harper to close down the Tea Shop until he got back. "Tell them that we're under construction," He said hurriedly as he grabbed a bag stuffing it with things he thought he needed. Harper looked at him confused.<p>

"But, but…where are you going?" She asked, Hatter turned and put both his hands on her shoulders.

"Back to Wonderland. I have to save Alice from whatever Jack brought her back for." He said, kissing the girl's forehead. "Don't worry about me, I grew up there, I know my way around." The look on Harper's face looked like she was going to cry, she thought she was going to lose one of her close friends, and Hatter could read that on her face. "Harper, I'll be back I _promise._" He said kissing her hair and hugging her tight, she had sort of become his and Alice's surrogate daughter in a way. Harper nodded, and Hatter grabbed Charlie's elbow and they ran out the door.

They didn't bother with a taxi or the subway, they just _ran. _Hatter knew the way to the deserted construction site. Once they got there, Hatter pulled out his key ring and reached for the copper key that was a copy of the one that Jack had. They had made a decision to lock away the looking glass in one of the finished rooms in the buildings so that no Oysters would come across it. So they did, and they had two keys made. One for Jack and one for Hatter. The door only locked from the outside, so people could _come_ to New York, but they couldn't leave unless they found Hatter.

So when Charlie and Hatter got there, Hatter unlocked the door with shaking hands and the two of them burst into the room. Once they were in, Hatter turned to Charlie. "Do you still have that safe house in the forest?" he asked. Charlie nodded.

"Of course," He said. Hatter nodded.

"Okay, we're going to go there, and work out why Alice is there and why Jack took her." He continued, taking the ring out of his pocket and untying a red cord from around his neck, and sliding the ring onto it and kissing it quickly. "I'm on my way Alice," He whispered before grabbing Charlie, and falling through the looking glass, and straight into Wonderland.


End file.
